I am looking for the help of an Exchange guru who can help me with the
dreaded "The connection to the Microsoft Exchange Server is
Unavailable..." error.

Here is our setup:

We use a remote, managed, Exchange 2003 Server for email and group
calendar. We connect to it via RPC over HTTP.

We use Outlook 2003.

Right now I have 4 PC's that are using Outlook 2003, and they are
working properly. The problem is that I am trying to setup Outlook on
a new laptop, and regardless of what I try, I get the "The connection
to the MS Exchange server is unavailable" message when I try to
resolve the username/password.

After endless trial and error, I was able to get the username/password
to resolve, and at this point when I would launch Outlook on the
laptop it appeared that everything was working - it started to
download messages, set up all the folders etc....but when I try to
print an email I get the "The connection to the MS Exchange Server is
unavailable."

It is important to note that I have set up the laptop exactly like the
PC's that are successfully connecting to Exchange Server.

I have searched for months on google, read many articles and posts,
but have not been able to get to the bottom of this. A few weeks ago I
spent 3 hours on the phone with the guy who manages the Exchange
Server - he admitted I was not the only customer with this problem,
but so far has been unable to figure out what exactly is causing it.
He thinks it was a recent patch/security update, because a few months
ago this whole process worked fine for us.

Oh the laptop is running Windows XP SP2 updated.....I have even tried
to open my firewall to the Exchange and ISA Server....but it doesnt
make a difference.

Could this be a registry setting on the laptop? If so, which one?

Any help would be greatly appreciated...this is really frustrating me
- in fact this has been the most frustrating thing I have dealt with
professionally....absolutely no matter what I do, nothing works. What
really irks me is that a Google search shows that there are many
people experiencing this exact problem, only there is no clear cut
solution that I have been able to find. So if anyone here has any
ideas about this, please help. Setting up Outlook for RPC over HTTP
should be a 10, 15 min procedure, tops....this has turned into a 2+
month debacle, and it is starting to make me look incompetent.

Thanks for your help.
Mike

a shot in the dark, but are you using the laptop wireless, and does it do the
same thing plugged in to the network, if you have one?

"Mike B." wrote:

> I am looking for the help of an Exchange guru who can help me with the
> dreaded "The connection to the Microsoft Exchange Server is
> Unavailable..." error.
>
> Here is our setup:
>
> We use a remote, managed, Exchange 2003 Server for email and group
> calendar. We connect to it via RPC over HTTP.
>
> We use Outlook 2003.
>
> Right now I have 4 PC's that are using Outlook 2003, and they are
> working properly. The problem is that I am trying to setup Outlook on
> a new laptop, and regardless of what I try, I get the "The connection
> to the MS Exchange server is unavailable" message when I try to
> resolve the username/password.
>
> After endless trial and error, I was able to get the username/password
> to resolve, and at this point when I would launch Outlook on the
> laptop it appeared that everything was working - it started to
> download messages, set up all the folders etc....but when I try to
> print an email I get the "The connection to the MS Exchange Server is
> unavailable."
>
> It is important to note that I have set up the laptop exactly like the
> PC's that are successfully connecting to Exchange Server.
>
> I have searched for months on google, read many articles and posts,
> but have not been able to get to the bottom of this. A few weeks ago I
> spent 3 hours on the phone with the guy who manages the Exchange
> Server - he admitted I was not the only customer with this problem,
> but so far has been unable to figure out what exactly is causing it.
> He thinks it was a recent patch/security update, because a few months
> ago this whole process worked fine for us.
>
> Oh the laptop is running Windows XP SP2 updated.....I have even tried
> to open my firewall to the Exchange and ISA Server....but it doesnt
> make a difference.
>
> Could this be a registry setting on the laptop? If so, which one?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated...this is really frustrating me
> - in fact this has been the most frustrating thing I have dealt with
> professionally....absolutely no matter what I do, nothing works. What
> really irks me is that a Google search shows that there are many
> people experiencing this exact problem, only there is no clear cut
> solution that I have been able to find. So if anyone here has any
> ideas about this, please help. Setting up Outlook for RPC over HTTP
> should be a 10, 15 min procedure, tops....this has turned into a 2+
> month debacle, and it is starting to make me look incompetent.
>
> Thanks for your help.
> Mike
>
>

On Aug 23, 1:48 pm, dlw <d...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> a shot in the dark, but are you using the laptop wireless, and does it do the
> same thing plugged in to the network, if you have one?
>
>
>

Sorry it took me so long to respond.

Yes, the problem occurs both on a wired and a wireless network.

I actually have a tech support call with Microsoft scheduled today so
we will see if they can help me.